Herman Miller's Kimberly Coffman Named Among "25 Champions Of Diversity" For 2010

October 01, 2010

Diversityplus Honors National Diversity Leaders

Supporters of supplier diversity across the nation are being recognized with DiversityPlus' release of their 2010 Champions of Diversity award winners. The 2010 winners were announced on Monday, September 20th, 2010 and profiled in print in the October issue of DiversityPlus magazine.

More than 15,000 women and minority suppliers across the country participated in the 2010 Champions of Diversity evaluation and selection process. Each of the women and minority owned businesses contacted were asked to complete a survey to nominate a supplier diversity executive as a Champion of Diversity. Nominees needed to serve in a managerial or director capacity and demonstrate great leadership and skill in driving supplier diversity at their firm.

For six years, Coffman, manager, supplier diversity, has been leading Herman Miller's award-winning Supplier Diversity initiative, now celebrating its 20 year anniversary, which drives the inclusion of diverse suppliers to enhance its supply chain and support corporate and customer diversity goals.

"This recognition means a lot to me," Coffman said, "especially since it's coming from the diverse business community. They rely on me to help connect them to the right decision-makers within Herman Miller, and we rely on them for quality products, services, and performance."

In 1999, Coffman began her career at Herman Miller as a senior program manager, marketing communications, and was responsible for leading integrated marketing communications initiatives, new product introductions, and strategic planning.

Nominees represented a wide range of industries, including some of the biggest corporate names in America, and their collective credentials were impressive. An independent editorial team was selected to thoroughly evaluate the accomplishments of the nominations and select the top 25 nominees to be named as DiversityPlus' 2010 Champions of Diversity.

DiversityPlus noted the final 25 award winners stand out from their colleagues due to their demonstrated leadership abilities and roles as good mentors to diverse suppliers. Award winners also went above and beyond in championing diversity within their organizations, increasing their firm's diversity spend year over year, being responsive to the needs of diverse suppliers, and implementing important best practices and bench marking standards to help drive their firms' supplier diversity programs.

An additional consideration for the selection committee was how diligently the 2010 Champions of Diversity worked to help minority and women-owned business owners get their foot in the door at their firms to bid on contracts. Many 2010 winners were actively involved in matching suppliers to internal opportunities to help build capacity and increase their outreach efforts in this tough economy.

The 2010 DiversityPlus awards represent the fourth year that the magazine has named Champions of Diversity. The awards are a unique effort to reach out to minority suppliers of all sizes, products, and service backgrounds to determine which executive individuals are perceived as doing the most to promote the benefits of diversity within their organizations.

About DiversityPlus MagazineDiversityPlus magazine is one of the nation's leading diversity publications. Their rapidly growing print, digital, and online subscriber base (100,000+) targets minority suppliers and corporate purchasing and supplier diversity executives at firms worldwide. Present at industry conference and highly active in the diversity field, DiversityPlus magazine was the 2007 winner of the National Minority Business Council's Media Award.

For more information about DiversityPlus' 2010 Champions Of Diversity or DiversityPlus magazine, visit www.diversityplus.com or call Sarah Jia at 973-486-0142 ext. 709.

About Herman Miller
Herman Miller works for a better world around you—with inventive designs, technologies and related services that improve the human experience wherever people work, heal, learn, and live. Its curiosity, ingenuity, and design excellence create award-winning products and services, resulting in more than $1.3 billion in revenue in fiscal 2010. Innovative business practices and a commitment to social responsibility have also established Herman Miller as a recognized global company. In 2010, Herman Miller was again cited by FORTUNE as the "Most Admired" in its industry and among the "100 Best Companies to Work For" in America, while Fast Company has named Herman Miller among its 2010 "Innovation All-Stars." Herman Miller trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol MLHR.